Operation: GZERO
by Laser11
Summary: After a surprise attack by an unknown enemy devastates and fractures the RED and BLU mercenaries, the RED Heavy goes on a journey across the battlefields of Team Fortress in order to reunite his comrades in arms. However, he quickly discovers that unusual changes have occurred in the mercenaries. Inspired by the videos of Gzero91.
1. Ngeib

**This story is based off of the GMod Videos of Gzero91. If you've seen those videos, you'll find them to be very abstract and surreal, with various interpretations by the viewers in the comments section. This fanfiction serves to compile it all into one complete story. This is my first fanfiction, so apologies if the quality is subpar. Constructive criticism is appreciated.**

 **Team Fortress 2 is property of the Valve Corporation**

 **-+G+-**

 **Location: Unknown**

 **Operation: Unknown**

 **Date: Unknown**

Pain.

For the past five hours, Misha only knew pain.

It filled every nerve in his body, burning away every other sensation in his body. He could only feel pain. He could only smell pain. He could only see pain. All was pain.

For a moment, he lost control of his body, and let out an undignified, "Meee," but was quick to rectify that lapse in concentration. He could barely concentrate on anything else but he could have sworn that he heard a sharp laugh from the person across from him. One in the same position as he was, but with a face contorted in sadistic pleasure rather than pain.

He knew not the reason he needed to experience such pain, only that he had to. He had to so he could correct _that_. That horrible, horrible nightmare of events. Misha could still fill the abominable mutations _it_ has caused. He knew that this pain is a far greater pain than what human beings would normally experience in such a position. He was certain that this _thing_ across from him was responsible. The pain was unbearable; it was something he wanted to end. But he knew that he had to do it to save them. To save _him_.

 **-+G+-**

 **Location: Teufort, New Mexico**

 **Operation: 2Fort**

 **Date: June 23** **rd** **, 1971**

"We have dropped the enemy intelligence!"

"Move, men. Stop those maggots from taking the briefcase!"

"Charge now, Doctor!"

"Jawohl!"

The sound of crackling electricity fills the air as a dark crimson shade covers every visible surface on the Heavy and Medic of Reliable Excavation Demolition Company (RED). The eerie glow in Heavy's eyes complemented the sinister tone to his maniacal laughter. Taking advantage of his newfound invincibility, Heavy revved his beloved Sacha and aimed it directly at the center of the bridge, right at the impudent mercenaries of the Builder's League United Company (BLU). With the mere press of a trigger. Hundreds of high-caliber rounds lay waste to the enemy's Soldier, Engineer, and Demoman, as their counter-fire bounces off his friend's impenetrable barrier. Just as the enemy Soldier makes his last scream of defiance, the RED Heavy and Medic return to their normal states.

"Tiny man!" The Heavy shouts behind him, "Get tiny box!"

"Okay, okay, jeez," A Brooklyn voice yelled in response.

Quick to capitalize the sudden vacancy of defenders, RED's own Scout rushed past the duo and quickly grabs the handle of the BLU's briefcase.

"We have taken the enemy intelligence," a feminine voice immediately booms over the facility's PA system. The Heavy grunted in acknowledgement. A сука in purple clothing, the Administrator was. That old woman was responsible for administrating the ongoing battles between the mercenaries of RED and BLU. After many long years of hard fighting, it's become an open secret that she played both sides. It was generally agreed upon that it was no coincidence that she wore purple, a mixture of the colors red and blue. So far, she hasn't responded to this discovery.

The "RED" Soldier took that moment to shout, "Move it, you worthless RED maggots! I don't like working with you, but I will make sure you will meet my BLU team standards!"

Except that, of course. The Administrator decided to do an "experiment" and exchanged the two teams' Demomen and Soldiers, probably to get bad blood stirred up and cause chaos in the team dynamic. If Heavy thought his own Soldier was a headache, than BLU's Soldier was a migraine. Not only was he an enemy, but his clash with RED Demoman seemed to have made him even crazier, spouting of jingoistic rhetoric with a new vigor. There also seems to also be a hateful addition of the word "nigger" in his references to the Demoman. Heavy was starting to see why the two black Scotsmen get drunk all the time.

Speaking of black Scotsmen, the Heavy could see said transfer mercenary dutifully lay sticky bombs along the rim of the RED facility's entrance to the Heavy's right. Recently, he's been conspicuously quiet and sober recently, something the more observant members of RED team have noticed. Of course, they knew why. This Demoman was a Buddhist. The Heavy wasn't privy to the details of the religion since the Soviet Union enforced atheism very harshly. Regardless, it seemed to have an effect on the Scotsman and was, to quote the Sniper, "A professional I would gladly work with over that drunkard we just-

*BANG*

A warm liquid splashed against the back of Heavy's head. He swipes his hand across the location and see his palm is covered in blood. He turns around to disciver the BLU Spy frozen in place, his butterfly knife ready to strike Heavy's spinal cord. A gaping hole was on his forehead.

Heavy looks up to the facility's battlements, and sees the RED sniper, waving and chuckling. He pulls the bolt on the AWPer Hand and loads the next bullet. The Heavy smirks and nods his head in gratitude, returning his sights on the bridge connecting to BLU's facility, its blue brick façade mirroring RED's red wood building. He once again revs up his minigun prepared to meet anyone who dares to take back the intelligence.

It would prove to be unnecessary as the Administrator suddenly announced, "Victory." The Scout must have finally secured the intel. The Heavy then stopped revving his minigun, and prepared to return to respawn. Turning to the Medic, he motioned to follow. The Medic responds by pushing up his glasses, grinning, and follows him into the building.

 **-+G+-**

 **Location: Unknown**

 **Operation: 2Fort**

 **Date: June 23** **rd** **, 1971**

 __In a darkened room, two individual silhouettes could be made out by the light projected on the front wall. On said wall, numerous cathode ray screens displayed the scenes of battle that have occurred in Operation 2Fort.

"Pathetic. If this is how they'll fight when the time comes, they will be severely unprepared. I believe it is time to resort to _that_."

"Ma'am, are you sure that you want to do this?"

"You've seen the signs, he's about to make his move, and these morons are not enough to stop him. This should be able to give us the necessary manpower to defeat him."

"But ma'am, there's no telling what will happen to them. You've seen the tests; they could be scarred for life."

"Trust me, I've been doing this for the past hundred years. This is the best path to take. Besides, even if it is a failure, we can always hire more."

"But…I…*sigh* yes ma'am."

"Good. Commence the operation, NOW!"


	2. Havrostedon

**Location: Teufort, New Mexico**

 **RED Respawn Room**

 **Date: June 23rd, 1971**

 __There are two types of twins that can be born. There are fraternal twins, which are two genetically dissimilar siblings that happen to have developed and were born simultaneously. Or, there are identical twins, genetic copies born of a fertilized egg dividing into two independent infants. Even so, there are minute differences that often arise in their nurture that can cause identical twins to develop into two easily distinguishable characters. The Mann Brothers are an exception. The only thing different between them is that Redmond likes the color red and Blutarch likes the color blue. They share the same physique, same faces, same ideas, and the same irrational hatred for each other.

The facilities that hosted Operation: 2Fort are a perfect representation of the twins. Though the facilities are superficially different, with RED's rustic wooden architecture and BLU's brick and mortar construction. But if they were stripped down to their bare bones, the two buildings become exactly the same. The rooms, the hallways, the floors, all share the same dimensions and purpose. Every once and a while, their owners reveal their same hatred with a same, equivalent force of mercenaries who, for whatever reason, are also the same. Same nationalities, same faces same skills, same everything. Only the chaotic nature of battle ensured a victor and a loser in every battle. Such symmetry often results in stalemates and contested battles over the same area over and over again. For example, this was well over the 100th instance of Operation: 2Fort, with almost as many victories for the RED team as there were victories for the BLU team. With so many battles over the same battlefield between two lookalike factions over obscure reasons, civilians of Teufort are left wondering what the point of all this fighting was.

The Heavy did not care for any of this, nor did he care that the only difference between this respawn room and the other was the red paint job. The main respawn room was actually two rooms, a larger, longer rectangular room with an ammunition locker to the left and a bench and seat locker to the right. Strewn about were some dumbbells and towels for anyone wishing to exercise their muscles (i.e. Heavy). Overhead, white pipes and white ventilation tunnels could be seen, pumping water and air throughout the building. Further back, separated by a bullet-proof glass sliding double door was the second room where the mercenaries actually respawned. It was much shorter than the previous room, around 1/4 to 1/5 the length, and was the same width. The walls in both rooms had two colors, the top half was white while the bottom half was a brighter shade of the team colors. In this case, a light red. Often, the mercenaries hang around in this room until Operation: 2Fort occurs once again or they respawn to another location to do battle.

Currently, none of the nine mercenaries of RED are in the second room. In here, the Heavy and Medic could see the Scout by the far right corner trying futilely to lift large dumbbells. On the bench the transfer Demoman was meditating in the lotus position, the transfer Soldier next to him trying and failing to get a rise out of him. On a bench to the right of the locker, the Sniper could be seen cleaning his AWPer Hand, a rifle he also affectionately calls the "Heavy Sniper". Heavy didn't understand why, as it was as effective as his previous rifle, but he inferred it was due to the much more impressive bang it makes, like a note out of the songs Sasha makes. Engineer was nowhere to be seen, probably in some workshop fiddling with his machines. The Spy was to the corner to Heavy's left, cigarette in hand and a smug look stuck somewhere in between I-am-better-than-you and I-know-something-you-don't. Pyro was lighting the bulletproof glass on fire…again.

"You know what I could go for right now?" asked Soldier, "A nice, hot piece of American apple pie in a white-only restaurant." He then smiled, hoping that will finally provoke the Demoman.

"88-352," The Demoman cryptically replied, his concentration still unbroken in his meditation.

"What?" the Soldier replied, momentarily confused by the meaning of those numbers.

"Civil Rights act of 1964. Restaurants and the like aren't allowed to discriminate based on country, color, or creed."

Soldier, with his insane idiocy and hatred for all things Demoman, only responded with a growl. "Grr, and what is a Black Scotsman like you doing learning American Law!?"

"I've got half a dozen jobs, mate. Lawyer is one a 'dem. I'm actually surprised that you wouldn't embrace somethin' your country's doin'."

Once again the Soldier only acknowledged the answer with another growl, and decided to give up and leave. Passing by the Heavy, muttering about "Commies, liberals, and niggers," He exited to the right of the spawn room, out towards the building's courtyard. The Heavy decided to ignore him, and moved to gently put Sasha near one of the ammo lockers and then sit down on the bench next to Sniper.

"Bloody hell, mate," the Sniper said, "why did that woman trade our mates with these wankers?! One is taking a piss all over our team, and the other is one I'm itchin' to put a bullet into his skull." Indeed; ever since he has transferred, the Soldier ruined at least five missions with his complete refusal to cooperate with his former enemies, sometimes screaming critical info to the other team before being silenced by either the REDs or BLUs (the latter for the sake of being an enemy). Only recently has he taken to working together, and even then it was a marginal improvement. The former BLU Demoman made no such hassle during his stay with the REDs, but was the nemesis of the RED Sniper. Sniper had the misfortune of ending up in this particular Demoman's way more times than with other BLUs, clashing in duels that end either in a headless corpse or a pile of charred body parts. When the Demoman converted to Buddhism and became sober, the feud quickly flew into the Demoman's favor. What really irked Sniper, however, is the emotional detachment he displayed during those duels. It was infuriating, like his existence didn't matter! Why did he have to work with that man?

"Teamwork," Medic said, coming up to the Heavy and the Sniper.

"What?"

"Zis is only a theory, but I believe zat ze Administrator did zis as a test to see if we wvould operate efficiently as a team, even under ze conditions of losing our own team members und cooperating with ze enemy."

"Yeah, well that is working out fine and dandy, I must say," the Sniper responded sarcastically.

Heavy decided to add his input into the conversation. "Hmph, Heavy does not understand. We are mercs. We kill for money, no more, no less. Respawn makes no one dead for long. It is almost like game. Do you not think so?"

"No!" the sniper yelled, and stormed out of the room to the battlements with his rifle, probably in anticipation of the next match. The Medic only sighed at this, and proceeded to sit next to the Heavy.

"You are dummkopf, you know zat, right?" the Medic asked humorously, "It's not zat simple as thinking of zis as a game. Mein Gott, you are like a child when it comes to zis." That got a chuckle out of the both of them. They sat there quietly, basking in the presence of their brothers in arms. The Scout at that moment dropped the dumbells he was holding, giving up trying to life the heavy weights. Like Soldier and Sniper before him, he left the spawn room. He turned right, towards the courtyard where the Soldier also was.

"Do you hate zem?" the Medic suddenly asked the Heavy.

"Hmm?"

"Ze enemy. Zey cause you pain, zey deny your objective, und taunt you in your failure."

"No," the Heavy answered, "I do not hate enemy?"

"Why?" was the Medic's second question, genuinely curious of what his friend's answer could be.

"When I see enemy, especially other Heavy, I think of family. I have a mother, and three sisters. We were sent to gulag when father fought for White Army. When I think of gulag, I think of suffering mother and sisters had, and the hate guards gave us. When we burnt down gulag, we fled, and were captured. We were not killed, as commissar was amused by our plight. He recruited me into Red Army, and my family was left alone." He looked at the Medic, expecting a response for his participation on the opposing side in WWII.

The Medic just shrugged, "I did not really care. Ze Führer did not represent me."

"Continuing. After war, I became hero in my unit. Commissar did not like that, so he tried to kill me, and I killed him. Again, hatred hurt family, and we were wanted again. I fled, and managed to take family to hidden place in Siberia. It was then I became mercenary, to raise money to help family, and one day go to place where Party won't hurt us anymore. When I see enemy, I think of where money goes. Some may be greedy, like the capitalists Party warns us, or like me, and try to help family. I cannot hate enemy if he fights for family." And with that, he lapsed in to silence.

"Well, you still can't blame ze transfers for not cooperating. Can you imagine fighting me?" the Medic asked. This actually had Heavy pause for a while. During this, he moved his left hand towards a pocket on his vest, a Pocket Medic as a gift from its namesake. But before the Heavy could formulate an answer, air warnings started blaring from the PA system, which suddenly stirred the five remaining mercenaries from his meditation. The Heavy and Medic locked eyes for a second, knowing what that meant.

Emergency mission start.

Moving quickly, they reequipped their weapons and tools for this sudden mission. The Heavy, his Sasha, shotgun, and Gloves of Running Urgently. The Medic, his Medi Gun, Ubersaw, and Syringe Gun. The Demoman, his Loch-n-Load, Stickybomb Launcher, and Eyelander. The Pyro, his Flamethrower, Shot Gun, and Axtinguisher. And the Spy, his Diamondback, Big Earner, Sapper, and Invisi Watch. They then heard the automatic roller shutters open up, signaling that a teammate coming in. Looking, the Heavy saw the Scout and Soldier come to acquire their weapons from the various lockers around the room. The Scout in particular looks very distressed. The Scout, after acquiring his Baby Face's Blaster, pistol, and Sandman, looked towards the bewildered Heavy and Medic, and said, "Hey, y-you guys need to see this." At that moment a massive, mechanical moan vibrated through the entire facility, creating small tremors from the force of the sound.

Now Heavy was worried. Rarely does Scout lose his bravado, and it was never before contact with the enemy. Whatever was happening was something very, very, _very_ bad. The Scout rushed out of the spawn room, the other mercenaries following behind. Heavy could make out the Soldier carrying his Rocket Launcher, shotgun, and Equalizer, at the front of the crowd. Turning left, the REDs all entered the courtyard, the Sniper and Engineer already present. The Sniper had his AWPer Hand, Jarate, and Bushwacka while the Engineer had a shotgun, a pistol, and Jag. Both were on the upper platform gapping at an unseen enemy. The rest of the group followed their line of sight, and proceeded to gape as well. The Soldier then voiced a word that was ringing though everyone's mind, "Incoming!"

Ghastly Gibus.

Dozens of them, hundreds of them, flying though the sky. They were of various sizes, but none were smaller than a car. Great roars could be heard as these strange hats passed by, moving towards unseen targets like UFOs. In any other situation, this might have been humorous, but here, in the backdrop of a grey sky with klaxons and alarms, it was anything but funny to the mercenaries. The Soldier screamed, as one particularly giant hat came and close in on the facility. Everyone was in fear; in fear o of being crushed, killed, or suffering some other horrible fait when it arrived. The Heavy then realized that the Soldier was not the only one to scream at the unknown.

He could hear himself scream.

The Ghastly Gibus enveloped the RED building in its shadow, and there was only darkness.


	3. Engitect

**If any of you are offended by the characterization of the RED Soldier, I sincerely apologize, and am in no way trying to promote racial discrimination through this fanfiction. However, this trait will become critical to his interactions with other characters and how that affects the plot as it progresses, so please try to bear with it.**

 **-+G+-**

 **Location: Badlands, New Mexico**

 **Operation: Dustbowl, Stage 2**

 **Date: June 30** **th** **, 1971**

The enemy was repelled today. That was something everyone was thankful for. For now, the surviving mercenaries can enjoy their well-earned respite. Currently, most of the mercenaries are hanging around point A of the second stage of the RED Dustbowl Facility. This area forms the shape of an L, boxing in the mercenaries with a combination of wood and natural stone walls. The control point stood on an elevated position on a building in the outer corner, and a silo at the inner corner. If, say, the outer corner was on the North-west side, you will also find a two-room office on the north side and a shed on the south side. The office happens to be in the direction Heavy is facing. Currently, the Heavy was on point A, lamenting the ongoing war while the agonized moans of the RED Engineer (or was it BLU?) from within signaled to the world that he was still under surgery. In the last battle, _they_ managed to somehow plant a sapper on the Engineer himself, seemingly sucking the life out of him. Removing it has quickly become an agonizingly slow process, as this was something no one, not even or the Medic, understood. Heavy was not entirely surprised. After all, it was a product of _them_.

Seven days. Seven days of fighting these…these…things! Not long after that giant of a hat flew overhead, 2Fort was suddenly lit up with teleportation lights and particles as _they_ came into the war with no warning. No one knew what they were. The Medic coined the term **F** ractured **2** nd re **P** lacements; everyone else called them F2Ps. The Heavy, however, knew a far less technical term for this kind of enemy.

Clones. Hundreds of them. Perfect physical copies of the RED and BLU mercenaries, with only one mission in mind.

Kill the mercenaries.

One day later, BLU ceased to exist. The sheer overwhelming numbers of this new enemy was able to bum rush every BLU facility in the Badlands. No one knew what happened to Blutarch Mann. That same say, the Administrator, as the owner of TF Industries and, by extension, RED Company, overrode Redmond's authority and started commanding the RED mercenaries as well as the ex-BLU mercenaries.

The next day, the F2Ps attacked the RED facilities. That was when the REDs and BLUs attained their first victory. For you see, BLU has never suffered a direct attack on its facilities beyond the property borders of RED and BLU, and was thus completely inexperienced in their defense. A consequence of the asymmetry of attack/defense missions. RED, however, was a master at defense. Its mercenaries had spent three years perfecting defensive tactics and strategies to stand against any oncoming opponent. And for the past five days, those skills have been put to the test against an overwhelming enemy.

The good news was that these clones were nothing like the original mercenaries on the battlefield. Their aim was sloppy, their positions extremely exposed, and their most sophisticated tactics were human waves. That meant that even though several dozen could be deployed at once, they were killed in droves so much that sometimes, six mercenaries would have sufficed.

The bad news was that it was the enemy was getting stronger. Early in the conflict, there were unconfirmed sightings of F2Ps displaying unusual abilities throughout the Badlands. This mystery would remain until the coalition of RED and BLU mercenaries encountered an F2P BLU engineer at the Badlands Facility.

 **-+G-+**

 **Location: Badlands, New Mexico**

 **Operation: Badlands**

 **Date: June 27** **th** **, 1971**

*Bang**Chick-chack* "Eff-two-pee down, move up!" the RED Soldier yelled, having blown apart an impostor BLU Scout with his shotgun. It went down in a bloody mess, its head still giggling with its disturbing Cheshire smile. That was the one bad thing about them. Though physically, they were the same as the original mercenaries, the F2Ps' minds were anything but. Almost all of the clones acted like complete psychopaths. While the mercenaries were no stranger to the joys of battle, these things took it up to eleven and beyond. Laughter and ecstasy were plastered all over their faces as they either fell in battle or killed one of the mercenaries. Not only that, they also displayed extreme sadism and sociopathy on the mercenaries, often trying to kill the mercenaries the slowest way possible. If any mercenary owned a bladed or jagged melee weapon, it's guaranteed that their F2P counterparts would deploy those en-mass. In fact, most enemies encountered were scouts equipped with Boston Bashers, wooden bats with metal stakes protruding all over them. These monsterous characteristics were so horrible, it even disturbed the Medic. Though these clones were lacking in the conventional warfare department, they seemed to have psychological warfare down to an art.

The Soldier tried his best to ignore the thing's maddening behavior, and motioned for the RED Sniper, the BLU Demoman, and the RED Scout to move up to the center point. The BLU Demoman, originally part of RED team, managed to escape the destruction of BLU and returned to his former comrades with open arms (with obvious exception to the Soldier). The two are part of the mission to encourage teamwork as such dire times demanded. So far in this operation, nothing has come up, as Soldier was too busy cracking skulls to harass his former friend

The sound of decompressing air and deactivating machinery came as the center light turned red, signaling the capture of this point. This meant that the team will respawn closer to the front lines and return to the battle more easily. Currently, the four-man team is in the Badlands Complex, the center of which was contained a train line with a point between two uncoupled flatcars on a wooden bridge. The squad's objective is to capture this base that was recently emptied of clones while they departed in the flying hats towards other RED facilities. Four was the maximum number of mercenaries that could be spared in order for there to be enough to defend the oncoming attack. If the team were to be able to both repel the attack and succeed in their counterattack, that denied the F2Ps one of their forward outposts and gave the REDs and BLUs an excellent staging point for future attacks.

An additional swarm of F2Ps, a mixture of Scouts and Soldiers, came in from dry river bed leading out of the BLU facility, right into one of the Demoman's sticky bomb traps. The explosion blew all but one of them into bloody bits, the one survivor a Soldier equipped with an Equalizer pickaxe. If he was horrified at the sudden carnage, he didn't show it, and only laughed in joy as he threw away his weapon and armed the grenade that was strapped to him and ran toward the mercenaries.

"Watch out!" The Scout said.

The Sniper was the one to respond, "On it!" He took aim with his AWPer Hand, and blasted the enemy's head off. The body slumped over, just a few yards away, and was blown to bits as the grenade detonated a safe distance away.

"Oi mates, is anyone hurt?" The Sniper asked, his hand reaching for his Cozy Camper. Normally, it granted him the ability to remain unflinching to incoming fire with whatever Mann Co. technology was put into it, but it now carried med kits for the team. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and disobeying the Administrator's weapons guidelines just might mean the difference between victory and failure.

"I'm good, mate," Demoman yelled.

"Ready to kick ass," Soldier signed off.

"I 'aint hurtin', so I'm fine," Scout remarked.

"Alright, I guess this means we get to the next point," the Sniper replied/commanded. Really, there was no designated leader amongst this group, the role of issuing orders or coordinating the team often jumping between squad members. It was, however, agreed upon that the Scout does not issue anyone orders. They were willing to put up his loud protests over letting an infant such as him boss them around.

The Scout was the first to move out toward the next objective, but stopped when he saw a new problem arise. "Aw man," the Scout yelled, "look at this crap." Scout was at the right-most entryway to the BLU facility, and on a direct course towards the next point they had to take. However, the only problem was that a barricade was erected in front of them. From one end to another, the entrance was blocked of by two dump trucks staked onto each other. They then tried to take the center pathway into one of the buildings, but it also happened to have a dump truck blocking the entryway too. The mercenaries had no idea how the trucks got into those positions, but it now meant that they had to take a detour through the river bed. Realizing this, the mercenaries groaned as they made their way down off the bridge and bellow into the valley.

While they were walking keeping a sharp eye out for enemies, Demoman decided to take up a conversation with his arch nemesis, the RED (BLU) Soldier. "Ey, Soldier, why'd ya take the deal?"

"What deal, maggot?" the Soldier asked in return, obviously not thrilled about working with the DeGroot.

"Ya know, the one where you got somethin' in exchange for fightin' me. Why'd you do that?" As much as the Soldier could not get over the feud between him and the enemy Demoman, the Demoman could not get over how the feud was started. He knew he took it because the Soldier did as well, but was uncertain whether or not he was in it just for the weapons, or because of something else. Of course, knowing Soldier, he would definitely be worked up over weapons.

"It's because of YOU! You betrayed me, betrayed our friendship, and showed the world what a backstabbing Negro bastard you are!"

"Bloody hell, mate!" the Demoman yelled, surprised by the sudden outburst by Soldier, and a little flustered by his harsh insult, "What the bloody yell are ye talkin' about?"

"You know what! You took the deal! You called me a bad friend! And worst off all, you! Called! Me! A! CIVIE!"

"Only 'cause you took the deal, and what the bloody hell are you talkin' about, I would neva' call ya a civilian. You're too much a bloody killer to be one."

"Well I-" the Soldier then registered Demoman's last sentence, "you mean it?"

The Demoman, ignorant of Soldier's sudden mood swing, continued, "Yeah, you go around, tootin' yer gun around, killin' enemies left and right with yer gun-ho attitude, you can only be a soldier. Why, if I were to call ya' a civilian, I must be drunker than tha time I kissed Engie." Now, the Soldier may be the most clueless mercenary out of all of them, but even he could tell how genuine the Demoman was being. His comment inadvertently praised how un-civilian Soldier's behavior was.

"Wow…I…never knew you felt that way about me," Soldier replied, suddenly feeling awkward about Demoman's praise.

"Look mate, I don't give a crap about whether or not ya joined the military. You're a mercenary, a killer. No real civilian could do that, only a soldier like yourself can. Heh, I must've been thinking about some other soldier if I thought he was a civilian."

The Soldier suddenly beamed, taking up Demoman's explanation. "Ah-ha, that must be it. You must have been so drunk, you were thinking of a different soldier. Why, it must be your old Soldier. Serves him right, dying at these things' hands." To be honest, Demoman wasn't so sure, only giving an example. However, the Soldier looked so proud that arguing with him seemed like a bad idea.

"Yeah," the Demoman affirmed, "that must be it." Demoman decided that it might have happened in one of his blackouts. He made a note to follow his counterpart and reduce his alcohol consumption if possible. Regardless, he was glad that he was at least able to bridge the gap with his friend, even if the bridge was very flimsy.

"So…you kissed the Engineer, eh? Hehe," and like that, the Soldier reinforced the bridge with some friendly banter.

"Ack, don't bring it up. The otha' Engie already heard of it, and was laughin' up a storm."

"Shh," the Sniper suddenly quipped.

Demoman continued, "By god, I can hear him laughin right now!"

"SHH!" The Sniper shushed more assertively.

"What?"

"Be quiet, wanka. I can hear it to," the Sniper then put his hand up to his ear, signaling to the others to listen. They stood there for a few seconds, before they heard a hearty Southern chuckle, exactly like the Engineer. The Sniper raised his hand up, his index finger pointing toward the forward BLU spawn point that led into the river bed and the crisscrossing platforms that stood over it. The location did not worry the team so much as the fact that it was an engineer. So far, not one was encountered in their battles against the F2Ps, and this may become their first encounter with one. Though a little nervous at what nefarious actions the Engineer would attempt, the mercenaries knew that now was a prime opportunity recon this new opponent while the enemy's numbers were low.

Through an unspoken command, the team crouched down and slowly approached the rolling shutter that separated the outside world with the enemy within. The Sniper switched out his AWPer Hand with his submachine gun, the close quarters too tight for the former to be handled effectively. They each lined up toward the entrance, the Sniper and Scout to the right, the Soldier and Demoman to the left. They each gave a nod to signal their readiness, and the Demoman put his left hand under the shudder and lifted it up, allowing the others to concentrate their weapons against what was inside.

As it was suspected, it was an Engineer. Currently it was facing away from the mercenaries, towards the wooden lockers. It seemed unusually relaxed, its arms limp behind its back, and its head hung down. The mercenaries were not entirely sure what to expect, as this was the first enemy that did not come rushing towards them milliseconds after contact. Another chuckle escaped from the Engineer, and it turned its limp body toward the mercenaries to face them. Like the others, this F2P had the signature Cheshire smile that was plastered over each and every clone's face. However, this smile seemed different from the other highly disturbing smiles the REDs and BLUs had to deal with. While other smiles made a promise to cause unimaginable pain _if_ they get you, this smile promised pain _when_ he got them, as if it had the power the others lacked to do so. A feeling of unease filled the mercenaries, and their heads started to feel woozy. Hallucinations started to play across their eyes. One moment everything seemed red, or black, or some other color, and then switched back to normal, and then back.

And then, it opened its mouth. "Ya'll about to have a real, bad day. Hehehehe, huhahaha, MUAHAHAHAHHA!"

*SLAM*

An unseen force blew the mercenaries out of the spawn room back outside, while the others fell into the river bed, the Soldier was blown out at a slightly higher angle. This resulted in him slamming his upper left arm against one of the platforms, crushing bone and muscle inside. A scream of agony escapes the Soldier, his arm broken, as he falls down to his comrades.

The thumb of Soldier's body manages to jostle the other into action. The Sniper sees the Soldier's injury, and proceeds to open up his Cozy Camper to retrieve the med kits. But before he could so much as move over to Soldier, the backpack was suddenly ripped of the Sniper's back and was suspended high in the air. It then suddenly combusted, showering the mercenaries in smoldering fabric and Mann Co. medicine. When the smoke cleared, the mercenaries could make out the enemy Engineer, _levitating off the ground_. Its smile still holding firm as it gave out another hearty (heartless) laugh. It then suddenly activated the ÜberCharge implant in its heart, covering it in a sheen of blue, metal-like armor, a red color pulsating from it every few seconds.

The Scout decided to voice everyone's thoughts at this moment, "I think it's about time all of you channel a little of my greatness and run like the wind!" For once, the Scout's advice was something everyone could agree with. With the help of the Sniper, the Scout picked up the incapacitated Soldier and made their way back to RED base as fast as possible. Meanwhile the Demoman made a fighting retreat as he launched grenade after grenade at the Engineer in the hopes of disorienting it enough to let them get away. Unfortunately, it did jack as the F2P continued to follow them at the same pace.

Soon, the retreating mercenaries made it back to the bridge, almost into the RED base proper. However, their plans were ruined once again when the trucks from earlier were lifted off the ground and thrown in the path of the mercenaries. Then, just to twist the knife a little more, the Engineer levitated the contents of those dump trucks for the whole world to see.

*Beep-Beep*

At least a dozen sentries, in varying levels, were aimed at the four mercenaries below. At the center floated the Engineer, its ÜberCharge still activated. Sparks of electricity were emitted by its body, striking at various points around the area.

This would be the first freak that the mercenaries of RED and BLU fought.

*BEEP-BEEP-BEEP**RATATATATATATATAT*

 **-+G+-**

 **Location: Badlands, New Mexico**

 **Operation: Dustbowl, Stage 2**

 **Date: June 30** **th** **, 1971**

" _But it wasn't the last,"_ heavy thought. Engineer's injury was testament to that. Those abnormal F2P, those _freaks_ , were a cut above the rest, unleashing unusual powers to dominate the enemy. Heavy once recalled a clicking Soldier breaking his spine against a wall after politely declaring his desire to eat him. That Engineer that was encountered three days ago managed to permanently take off Soldier's left arm. Neither respawn nor Medi Guns seemed to help. Soldier, however, seemed unfazed, and has proceeded to come up with inventive ways to fight using his right arm and his mouth.

Still, it wasn't enough. The introduction of the freaks broke the stalemate, and were slowly carving away at the fortifications that held since the start of this new war. If they do not find a solution soon, the mercenaries may soon be out of their jobs.

Or worse.

 **-+G+-**

 **Imaginary cookie to whoever can guess the significance of these dates.**


	4. Tnk

**Remember, the Soldiers and the Demomen switched sides in the first chapter. This was done in order to maintain some consistency with the videos posted by Gzero91. So remember, Tavish Degroot from RED team is on BLU and Jane Doe from BLU team is on RED. This will not be changed until it is explicitly mentioned to happen in the story.**

 **-+G+-**

 **Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico**

 **Operation: Unknown**

 **Date: Unknown**

It was the sound of a captured point that awoke Heavy. That and the sudden, sub-zero breeze that blew onto his exposed body parts. With speed that would have impressed Scout, the RED Heavy recovered from his prone position and stood upright to face whatever enemy or ally he would encounter. Darting his head left to right, he realized that no one was there. Letting out a breath he didn't know he had, the then shifted his mind to taking stock of the situation. He realized that he was currently in a house, if it could even qualify as one. It was either destroyed or incomplete in its construction, as two opposite-facing walls were completely missing, and only the frame of the house formed the roof. The massive openings in the house gave the heavy a perfect view of the blanket of snow the covered the inside and outside area. Looking further out, he could make out a wooden RED building on one side of the house, a sheet metal BLU building on the other.

" _Coldfront,_ " Heavy thought. It was one of the few locations Redmond and Blutarch owned up in Santa Fe. Why he was all the way in Santa Fe, he did not know. The other thing he didn't know was the answer to why there were none of the bellows of his charging comrades and the explosions of grenades and rockets as mercenaries fly across the battlefield, either in one piece or half a dozen. The only sound there was of the freezing wind that buffeted his face. This silence was highly suspicious. However, there was one question that burned the most in Heavy's Mind.

 _How did I get here?_

Heavy recalled absolutely nothing that had to do with Coldfront. In fact, the last time he checked, Coldfront was _very_ far away from the front lines with the F2Ps. This was highly suspect, and it usually stunk of the shenanigans of the Scout. But even the Scout acknowledged the direness of the F2P attacks enough to take the war seriously. In addition, the center point remains locked outside combat. The fact that he could capture it signaled that a mission was in progress. If so, why was it that he was not informed? Why the last thing he remembered was waking up? And why was it that no one was here?

Heavy eventually concluded that his friends must be up at the next point, dragging a sleeping Heavy's to capture this point. Making a note to chastise his co-workers for leaving him like this, the Heavy made his way over to the BLU facility to rejoin the battle.

 **-+G+-**

"Dis is not funny, baby men!" Heavy yelled out from the control point at the entrance of BLU base. The point stood in the middle of an opening in a warehouse. Crates, barrels, and the like were strewn about. In front of the Heavy, he even could see some industrial containers. But even with all this junk around, there were still no mercenaries to be seen anywhere. It was starting to get on Heavy's nerves.

"Come out, cowards! Come and fight Heavy! I do not have Sasha, but I can still kill you with bare hands!" Still no response. He was starting to think that the Administrator was in on this prank as well, just to savor his misery along with the others. Apparently even the woman with 24 hours off a year could spare time to mess with him. Him and those floating, blue people.

…

…

…

 _Blue people?_

Quickly looking towards one of the entrances to the final point, the Heavy could make out a blue…thing make its way further into the base. Wasting no time, the Heavy dashed up the center entrance behind some intermodal containers to get a better view of what he was seeing. Rounding the corner to see what was inside the room containing the final control point, he could see that, indeed, there were blue people.

They looked like a Demoman and a Scout, except that, well, they were blue. Not blue as in the sky blue uniforms the mercenaries wore into battle, more like blue as in the two had submerged themselves into navy blue paint. It sounded too undignified for Scout's ego to allow, but nonetheless everything but the Scout's white sclera were blue. However, that wasn't the only thing that was different with these mercenaries.

"…Dias I os dna 'no gnidnats era uoy tniop ym s'taht, eya!'" The Demoman said, much to the confusion of the Heavy. The Scout however, seemed to perfectly understand what he said, and proceeded to laugh with the Demoman in a style that was just as weird as their speech. If things weren't already weird, they were also doing this without moving their bodies or their lips, their arms stuck to their sides and their faces frozen in a neutral facade. It was like they were statues. This was making the Heavy feel very uncomfortable, and it made him question if it would really be such a good idea to talk to them, especially if they turn out to be hostile.

"Ereh gniod uoy era tahw, ostaf, io?" a strange but distinctly Australian voice yelled from behind him. Turning around the Heavy came face to face with the Sniper. Like the Scout and Demoman before him, the Sniper was completely blue, was at attention, and conveyed no emotion in his face.

"Ereh e bot desoppus ton er'uoy, aknaw, ffo zzub!" the Sniper continued, his indecipherable speech containing a noticeable venom to them. Heavy's only response was to have his mouth gape at the surreal experience. He blinked, and suddenly he was surrounded by eight blue mercenaries, an entire team of mercenaries excluding the Heavy

"Uoy etah I!" the Soldier bellowed.

"Lleh ot thgiarts og dna ssa taf ruoy ekat!" the Demoman added, an equal amount of rage contained within his words.

"Ytinrete ni tor uoy yam dna, nairabrab dettiwmid, taf a era uoy!" the Spy added.

A symphony of hate played out in front of Heavy, as the harsh chorus sung by these abominations broke away at Heavy's resolve bit by bit. Images flashed before his eyes, of mother being molested by the gulag's guards, of the malnourished Jewish bodies in concentration camps, of the commissar's smug face as he ordered his execution. It was too much for Heavy to bear. And then he looked at the Soldier, and despaired.

His left arm was missing.

-+G+-

 **Location: Unknown**

 **Operation: Unknown**

 **Date: Unknown**

Medic screamed.

The RED Heavy opened his eyes to a new setting. It was a green field that was currently being redecorated from the constant bombardment by unseen heavy weapons. Dirt flew into the growing puddle of blood that was forming around the Medic's body. The Heavy lacked the medical skills of his friend, but even he could tell that he was as good as dead. His body was motionless, there was blood everywhere, and his eyes were glazed over. Heavy grimaced as he felt with upmost certainty that this would be the Medic's final death.

 _This is the fate that will befall all of your friends if things don't change_ , a voice said within Heavy's mind. But from his ears, he only heard muffled noises. Looking up, he came face to face with the probable source.

It was the BLU Pyro. The good news was that he wasn't one of those 100% blue abominations, but an actual BLU mercenary. The bad news was that he didn't know if it was a friend or foe. Looking at the bloody axe in its hand, Heavy was leaning significantly towards the later.

 _Peace. Though this weapon bears the blood of your friend I am not the enemy._ Once again, a muffled voice from the outside mixed with a clearly audible voice coming from the inside of his head. _You may think that the Impostors are the enemy, but this is only a half-truth. When the Impostors are vanquished, the snake will rear its ugly head and release the poison of hatred. If the poision is not cured, than the sacrifices you made will be for naught and the blood of your friends will be on each other's hands._ The Heavy blinked, and the axe disappeared from the Pyro's hands. Looking down, he saw it in his own. _And yours._

" _Heavy."_

 _When the snake reveals itself, come find me._

" _Heavy!"_

 _I will teach you the skills to face what is to come._

" _Aagh, dummkopf…"_

 _For if the laughing one and the praying one do battle, all will perish._

The Heavy's only response was to glare at this character.

" _ **WAKE UP!"**_

 **-+G+-**

 **Location: Badlands, New Mexico**

 **Operation: Dustbowl, Stage 2**

 **Date: June 30** **th** **, 1971**

A slap to the back of the head almost knocked the Heavy off of the first point at the Dustbowl 2nd Stage Area and onto the ground below. Looking up behind him, he saw a frustrated Medic, no evidence of injury on his being. It was then that Heavy realized that he fell asleep atop the point.

"Come," the Medic said, "I have an announcement to make to the team." The Medic then jumped off the point and landed on the ground below, making his way towards the caves leading to the next area. The Heavy, not wanting to upset his friend any further, proceeded to follow him.

The RED respawn room in the second stage of Dustbowl is an M shaped room with just enough room to give nine to twelve mercenaries their personal space. Normally, the only furniture in the room were the lockers for the mercenaries to store and resupply their items, and a bulletin board with a bunch of articles. Now, the bulletin board was filled with maps and photographs of the enemy, pins with red yarn attached indicating links between various items pinned to the board. In addition, there were eight seats situated facing towards the back of the room. Four on each 'arm' of the M. On the right side were the RED Heavy, RED Scout, RED Spy, and the RED Sniper. On the left side were the RED Demoman, RED Pyro, and the RED Soldier. Neither the RED Medic nor the RED Engineer occupied the last seat, instead facing the seats from the back of the room where the chairs were facing. Instead, the last seat was occupied by the BLU Demoman.

Since their operation at Dustbowl, Tavish Degroot and Jane Doe have taken towards repairing the friendship they've lost so long ago. The RED Soldier has become much more tolerable recently, his 'patriotic' rhetoric still present yet less biting. The BLU Demoman has reduced his drinking from poisonous concentrations to intoxicating concentrations for the sake of spending more time to reconcile with his friend. It is because of this that the BLU Demoman was chosen; his bonds made him the best mediator out of all of the other mercenaries. Which doesn't say much, depending on who you talk to.

The other eight members of BLU team were currently undertaking delaying actions against the F2Ps to slow them down until a final solution could be reached. Heavy had a feeling that this meeting had to do with that solution.

"Now zen," Medic said, "I am sure zat you are all curious as to why I called you here today." The words _"no duh"_ passed through everyone's mind. "I am here to announce zat we have found a way to deliver a decisive blow to ze Fractured 2nd Replacements und win zis war in one stroke. Believe it or not, ze solution was delivered by ze enemy onto our fellow co-worker, ze Enineer. Herr Engi, if you please?" Taking the que, the Engineer stepped up to take the Medic's place. The mercenaries could also see a sapper in the grasp of his gloved right hand.

Clearing his throat, the Engineer began his part in the briefing. "As some of y'all might have heard, one mighty strange Fractured Spy managed to plant a sapper on my person. Well let me tell ya' it hurt. It sapped every cell in mah body tryin' to kill me. Now this wouldn't be so bad if that snake didn't plant it while respawn was turned off for maintenance. Only thanks to the Doc could I stand here in front of you fellas today, both me and the sapper me intact. Now the reason I'm tellin' y'all about this is because of this," he reached into the pouch on his left, and had procured a Wrangler. At least, it looked like a Wrangler at first sight, but upon closer inspection, it could be seen that the radar dish was circular instead of rectangular and was missing its joystick. In addition, it had a trigger and a spool of red wire attached to the disk

"Now watch this," taking the plug at the end of the wire, the Engineer connected the wire to the sapper, a slight humming could be heard emanating from one of the two devices. A smirk then crawled onto the Engineer's face as he then pointed the Wrangler at the RED Scout and pulled the trigger. A flash of red and a zapping noise later and the screams of the Scout could be heard as he dissolved into red particles. The other mercenaries quickly moved to tackle the RED Engineer before Medic put out his hand to signal stop.

A few tense seconds later, and the Scout popped back into existence. Frustrated, he yelled, "What the crap, man! Why'd you do that?"

Engineer was more than willing to answer Scout's questions. "To demonstrate what the enemy has given us. And to get back at you for actin' like a little varmint all the time."

Ignoring an indignant Scout, the Engineer continued, "This little contraption is able to emit a 'kill' signal of some sort that can be transmitted through electromagnetic radiation. If we could attune this device to kill Fractured Second Replacements and then transmit the signal everywhere and kill all the varmints in one strike." Now this was news to the mercenaries. Excitement began building up in the mercenaries as cheers were beginning to build up. The only people that were not excited, however, were the Spy and the Sniper.

"Hold the phone," the Sniper said, "is there some catch to this?"

"Well, yes," the Engineer. Abrupt silence reigned within the audience. "This signal would require massive amounts of power in order to both transmit to the necessary locations and be powerful enough to kill the enemy. Unfortunately the only place that could provide both was the Teufort Hydroelectric Dam, which has fallen into enemy hands." Hydro was unique in that it was the only place where the Administrator commenced matches that were classified as "Territorial Control". This type of mission operated similar to Control Point missions, only that it happens across multiple stages that could move between RED and BLU sides. Eventually the scale and complexity of this battlefield was too much for the Mann Brothers to tolerate, and so they petitioned (whined) to the Administrator to stop sending their mercenaries into this area. And for the next two years, Hydro fell into the back of everyone's minds. It was only discovered that the enemy captured it until the Medic went there earlier today to inspect the equipment there. However, this information was meaningless in the face if being denied Hydro's telecommunications array and hydroelectric turbines.

"The only other option is to use the laser we have in the Gravelpit. It has the necessary power infrastructure, and it just needs the array to be modified. Until then, we have to make sure none of the varmints capture Gravelpit."

"How long until we can activate the signal?" the Spy voiced.

"Well let's see," the Medic started, making gestures with his hand to do calculations. "Zere's ze construction time, plus convincing Redmond to go through with this, times Redmond's stupidity, divided by ze scrapping of ze Proof of Purchases. Three days. Until zen, as herr Engineer said, we must defend Gravelpit at all costs." A sense of foreboding filled the mercenaries' hearts. If so much could change in seven days, there was no telling how the three days will play out.

As the people mulled over the information given to them, the Medic began walking around, taking note of the dismayed faces on the people sitting. "We must endure seventy-two hours against an enemy zat has destroyed our previous enemy in just twenty-four," the Medic said somberly, "For most men, an impossibility.

"We are not most men," me Medic said, his tone noticeably upturned, " _we are mercenaries._ We have zhe resources, zhe skills, und ze will to get through every single hour. Since BLU's downfall, we have endured six days of relentless assaults. What is but three more?" At this point, the mood of the whole room has become hopeful and enthusiastic. "We will not fall, gentlemen. We will persevere through those days, and we _will_ win." The room suddenly broke into cheers, the Medic's rallying speech winning them over and boosting their morale to an all-time high.

"Until zen, enjoy some well-deserved R und R. Dismissed." Quickly the mercenaries filed out of the respawn room, hopes high and ready for what tomorrow brings. Medic was going to join them, but he then felt a hand on his shoulder. Looking over it, he saw it was the RED Heavy. "Will we win?" He asked, not entirely sure if the Medic was just giving their hopes up.

"Probably not," the Medic respond, his voice unusually cheerful in the face of such pessimism, "I calculate ze odds of us winning are a thousand to one."

The Heavy nodded, affirming that he took in this information. "If we win, what happens then?" he asked.

"I'm not sure, maybe we keep our jobs, maybe not. Maybe zey wil reform BLU und we go back to fighting. But zat doesn't matter if we do not win. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to prepare my proposition to Redmond." Easing Heavy's hand off, the Medic left the respawn room at a brisk pace towards wherever he needed to be, leaving the Heavy to his thoughts.

The Heavy moved over to one of the chairs in the room, lamenting over what he has seen and what he had heard. He still remembered the blank stares he saw in the dream, of the vile blue creatures at Coldfront, and the lifeless eyes in the Medic.

 _When the Impostors are vanquished, the snake will rear its ugly head_ ,

With BLU destroyed and RED nearing its own collapse, Heavy doubted that the return to normalcy will be that easy. What's to say that something else, something worse, happens when the war ends? This and many more questions burned in Heavy's head. And once again, one question stands out that puts the others into shame. What would happen when Heavy's dreams…

 _When the snake reveals itself, come find me._

…become reality?


	5. Unmedly

**If anyone is ever interested in looking at the videos that inspired this fic, go to Gzero91's Youtube channel and look for the "Team Fortress 2" playlist. This is the only way as the videos are unlisted.**

 **Also, before anyone ever asks, no, I do not know Gzero91.**

 **-+G+-**

 **Location: Classified**

 **Operation: Endgame (Mann Manor), Day 2**

 **Date: July 2** **nd** **, 1971**

After forty-eight hours of waiting with the occasional raid by F2Ps, the sound of slamming doors announced the arrival of the RED Medic. And boy, was he frustrated. "Zat idiot!" Medic yelled, "It took him two days. TWO…DAYS…to finally realize ze fruits of zis plan. Honestly, why do I work for zis man?" Sighing, the exhausted Medic collapsed into a chair, doing his best to relax to the sound of explosions and gunfire occurring right outside the building.

Currently, the Medic is located inside the library of Mann Manor, just outside a central lobby where the third point in Mann Manor is located. It was a nice place to relax, a room of intellectualism and knowledge that juxtaposed to the battlefield of violence and barbarism nearby. Along the walls were bookshelves filled with books in flawless, pristine condition. Most people would see this as a sign of being untouched by the war. The Medic saw it as a sign that Redmond never opened a book in his life.

A flare whizzed by the Medic and flew straight into a fireplace in the room, lighting the timber inside on fire. Before the Medic could reach for his needle gun to combat his assailant, the report of a shotgun blast beat him to it. Looking towards the entrance with his weapon aimed, the medic saw the headless body of a F2P Pyro. When the corpse of the enemy fell down, the Medic was able to catch sight of the RED Soldier with a smocking shotgun in his right arm. Jane Doe then faced the shotgun into the air and then shifted his arm in order to pump in the next shell. The discarded shell landed near Medic's foot, a disgruntled look on his face.

"What was zis one doing here?" the Medic asked.

"This maggot tried to light the lobby on fire. Would have too, if it hadn't caught sight of you lounging around," the Soldier jabbed, a little upset at seeing the Medic's idleness during the ongoing battle.

"Yah, yah, you and your accusations. You try heading straight into battle after being trapped with Redmond for two days."

"Hmph, well I would have fared just fine. Besides, the battle wouldn't have lasted long after the meeting." True to his word, the Announcer could be heard over the loudspeakers declaring their victory for the day. A minute later, the RED Heavy, RED Demoman, and RED Sniper came into the library to see the Medic and Soldier lounging around, the former reading a book and the later picking his nose like a jubilant moron.

"…and that was the time I scored my 100th kill in my career as a professional assassin. You got any interesting stories?" the Sniper asked the Demoman, the two apparently in the middle of a conversation.

"How 'bout the time I became a Buddhist?"

"Ah, bloody hell," the Sniper responded, his voice expressing exasperation.

"Nah, nah, mate, it's a doozy. Ya heard of Suijin? It's a nice little place in Japan that was bought up by our bosses. Ya see, Blutarch wanted me to go 'an scout RED targets to blow up. One day, while I was inspectin' a temple I went and crossed a monk that worked there. At least, he did work there before the gits went and bought it. I went ta' get rid of him the propa DeGroot way by forcefully tossin' him out when I ended up landin' outside with me arse in the air instead. I came back with me Eyelander, and I landed outside with me arse up in the air and the hilt stuck inside." Sniper had to try really hard not to laugh at that.

"The next day, I decided to just ask him to go, an' he agreed on the condition that maintain the temple. So I humored him and agreed to the deal an' added custodian to me list of jobs. Wheneva I was in the area, that man came and taught me. At first, I thought of him as a git, buggin' me with all this crap of 'life is sufferin' and 'nirvana' and stuff like that. But as things dragged on, I actually found his words resonatin' with me, and I decided to take him seriously. So, I basically learned eight steps to bliss and found a way to find peace outside a bottle. To celebrate, he tried teachin' me how to do karate, and we departed with me arse in the air with a white belt wrapped around it."

"Hah, sounds like an interesting story, mate," the Sniper said, "Maybe I'll go and see this bloke and get him to teach me how to kick your arse in the air."

"Ey, ey, don't be getting' ideas," the Demoman said defensively, "they don't teach ya for the sake of violence." The Sniper hmmed at this, shrugged, and started looking for a place to put his AWPer Hand. The Heavy just shook his head in amusement. These exchanges have been instrumental in breaking the ice between the REDs and BLUs. The Sniper and Demoman were prime examples. Before, they were practically at each other's throats. Now, the two natives of the British Commonwealth were trading banter. Now that everyone was stuck in the same foxhole and the survival of their careers and lives were on the line, petty feuds were quickly fading away. Now if only it would stay that way when this war ends…

"Hey boys," a Texan's voice called out. Turing to face the source, the five mercenaries could see that it was the RED engineer, a cheerful grin etched onto his face. Normally, he would be busy working on the superweapon (which was started early without approval with forethought of the delays), but was called here today to help get the green light from Redmond. In hand, he had a camera with a thin slot located beneath the lens. "Check out what I found in Redmond's office. It's a Polaroid camera, one of mah pet projects. This little thing could instantly produce a color photo with superb quality."

"I see," the Medic said. He also got up from his chair and moved over to the Engineer to get a closer look. "And for what reason did you bring zis to our attention?"

The Engineer started feeling a little sheepish and rubbed the back of his head with his free hand. "Well, there's one shot left, and I figured we'd might as well use it here and now with all y'all fellas gathered together right now."

The Medic thought over this for a while, and then gave a grunt in affirmation. "Very well. We will entertain you for ze time being. Now, gazer around everyone. Heavy, you can sit in ze chair." The mercenaries proceeded to do so without complaint. The Sniper decided to take a position furthest to the left. The Demoman was to the right, his right arm wrapped around the Sniper to represent their warming relations. The Medic was in the middle, which was just adjacent to the chair Heavy was sitting. Lastly, the far right was occupied by the RED Soldier, his only arm pressed firmly over his chest.

"Alright boys," the Engineer announced, a grin still fixed onto his face, "hold still!"

*Flash*

 **-+G+-**

 **Location: Badlands, New Mexico**

 **Operation: Endgame (Gravelpit), Day 3**

 **Date: July 3** **nd** **, 1971**

 _"It is a really nice picture,"_ the Heavy thought, holding the photograph in a picture frame the Engineer somehow procured. Sighing in content, the Heavy gingerly placed the picture down onto the computer terminal in the RED spawn room.

At that moment, the Heavy could year the RED Medic yell out, "Heavy! Are you still looking at zat picture? Get over here!" Not wanting to upset the Medic any further, the Heavy expedited outside of the spawn room towards the back of the tower where point C was located.

Currently, Heavy and the RED team were at Gravelpit. As the name suggests, it is a location of one of Redmond's gravel mills. However, like most of the Mann brother's buildings, military equipment could be found a hop and a skip further into the facility. In this case, a prototype laser Redmond commissioned to "protect the interests of gravel for the town of Teufort." It was located atop a wood and sheet metal tower with three levels of wooden scaffolding for people to navigate on. The top floor held the control point RED had to defend whenever Gravelpit was attacked. The second floor was just a medium to access the third and first floor, but was as good a vantage point as the one above it for shooting enemies below. The bottom floor led to metal catwalks which allowed people to exit or enter through the buildings leading to the A and B points located to the front and the left of the tower respectively. In addition a ramp led to a dirt ground out towards the front of the tower.

As the mercenaries were told a few days ago, Gravelpit is home to the most powerful electrical infrastructure within the Badlands sans Hydro, thus making it the most able location to provide energy for the anti F2P weapon. Over the last three days, it has undergone quite a change. Transformers, tesla coils, and the like dotted the courtyard that held the laser tower. The laser itself had its dish doubled in size and modified to project the "death" signal instead of coherent light. Just below it, where the C point is located, red-tinted cylinders holding super capacitors decades ahead of their time were undergoing final checks by the Engineer, ready to build up large quantities of electricity to later unleash it all at once.

At the Heavy moved up the scaffolds leading to the top of the tower he looks out towards various points in the courtyard. Two level three sentry guns were at each location, keeping a watchful eye out for anything that was a clone. The points were located at the exits as well as the corners of the area, ensuring that every single spot was covered. Spiky spheres of explosive death also lined entrances and exits to the area, ready to be detonated by the RED Demoman who placed them. Getting to the top catwalk, the Heavy could see the entire RED team gathered around for one final briefing. Of particular note was that the RED Medic was in BLU attire. Earlier, he explained that it was the only clean uniform he was able to get for this mission. Regardless, the Heavy was quick to huddle in with the rest of the team.

The first person to speak up was the Engineer. "Alright gang," he said, "this is it. Once those super capacitors are finished chargin' up, we can send those bastards screaming back to hell. It will be five minutes 'till that happens, but word is that a swarm of flyin' hats are comin' in hard and fast. It's a concentration we haven't seen since this damn war started, so those five minutes will be one hell of a fight. Whatever happens, do not let the fractured replacements capture this point, or they just kill us with it, permanently."

"Hold on a sec," the Red Scout screamed, "You sayin' that your fancy contraption could kill us all, and you didn't tell us!?"

"It vas a calculated risk," the Medic said, "Ve had no ozer option for defeating zis enemy. As long as we win, zis will not affect us. If not…well…ve vould have died anyways. So keep ze enemy away, and it everyzing will work out."

"You bet your frilly ass we're gonna stop those maggots," the Soldier enthusiastically, his mouth forming into a wide grin of anticipation. "I still have to get back to take up Tavish's invitation to the gun show!" The Soldier then abruptly chuckled for some reason. "Boy, I can't wait to tell him about-"

"NO SOLDIER! YOU ARE NOT TELLING HIM ABOUT THAT!" the Engineer screamed, obviously embarrassed of whatever the two were thinking. Almost everyone bursted into laughter; the Spy and Medic choose to face palm in exasperation instead.

Before the Medic could reprimand the Mercenaries for their immaturity, the PA system turned on. "Alert!" the Administrator proclaimed for all to hear, "Mission begins in 60 seconds."

"Move! Schnell!" the Medic ordered to the mercenaries. Everyone then split up to move towards their positions. The Engineer was near one of the sentries mounted on the top scaffold, ready to repair and rearm it when needed be. The Demoman was near the sentry opposite to it, readying his Scottish Resistance and looking to see which set of bombs to detonate. Between them, the Heavy readied his minigun, giving the Medic ample protection for him to regenerate any injuries with his Kritzkrieg Medi Gun. The Scout and the Pyro were hiding in the corner between the exits to A and B, ready to ambush any incoming enemy in their blind spots. The Spy was nowhere to be seen, presumably preparing his own ambush as well. The Sniper was hanging back near the RED spawn, standing on a catwalk slightly lower than the other ones. And finally, the soldier was standing on the right ramp leading to the second flow, ready to lay down explosive rain.

"Mission begins in 30 seconds." As the Administrator said that, the sound of jet engines filled the mercenaries' ear drums, as dozens of top hats in disrepair started filling up the sky, ominous mechanical moans only added to the cacophony. Mercenaries began tightening of their knuckles and squinting their eyes in response as they anticipated this fight.

"Mission begins in 10 seconds." A blue glow could be seen behind the buildings leading to A and B, a sign of a significant number of teleportation signatures.

"Five" The Heavy revved up his minigun.

"Four" The Sniper put his eye up to the scope.

"Three" The Pyro lit the pilot fire on its flamethrower.

"Two" The Engineer decided to equip his wrangler to take manual control of the sentry and create a shield on it.

"One"

At first there was nothing, only dead silence as everyone waited for what was to come. Suddenly, a tremble could be heard and felt by the mercenaries. Then the first wave of enemies appeared.

Loud bursts of laughter were heard between the blast of shotgun pellets flying out of the exits and into the tower. BLU clad F2P Scouts came in from both entrances by at least two dozen. The sentries worked their magic and began spewing bullets and rockets at the waves of Bostonian clones. But even as bullets started punching lethal hollers through these imposters, replacing the dirt ground with flesh and blood, more Scouts started coming in.

Heavy chose that moment to add his part in the symphony of war, unleashing 10,000 rounds per minute of fire into any Scout the sentries somehow missed. These laughing, smiling maniacs tried double jumping onto the scaffolding, but were literally sawed into pieces by the extreme volume of fire. One Scout had the dubious pleasure of coming in close enough to have his skull fractured by the Soldier's entrenchment tool, ensuring that it will at least be incapacitated for the remainder of the battle.

Next came the noise of many whirring machines to announce the incoming wave of Heavies from point A, ready to fill the entire courtyard with lead. A deafening buzz of automatic fire filled everyone's ears as the Heavies focused fire on the two sentries blocking the exit. The sentries dished out as much return fire as it could, but were only able to fell three due to the enemy's tough constitution. After that, $200 bullets finally compromised the integrity of these machines, quickly tearing them to pieces.

"Sentry down!" the Engineer announced, focusing the team's concentration on the Heavies. Reacting quickly to the situation, the engineer aimed the Wrangled sentry gun town towards the hoard of Russian F2Ps and depressed the trigger, telling the remotely operated contraption to unleash hell. It, along with the RED Heavy's own minigun, began firing against this new adversary, doing all they can to stem the mighty glacier that has appeared. The enemy fired back too, but was far less effective than before thanks to the endurance of the regenerating Heavy and the shielded sentry. The Pyro joined in on the action, surprising the enemy from the sides with the sudden appearance of jets of flames. That was their breaking point, and the unit of F2Ps finally started going down.

A scream of pain came from behind the Medic, surprising the German doctor. Turning around, he saw a BLU F2P Spy writhing in agony, a butterfly knife sticking out of its back. Behind it, the RED Spy was lighting a new cigarette, a smug look on his face.

"You'd best keep an eye on your back, my friend. Or have you forgotten the lessens my counterpart has impaired upon your spine?" the Spy jabbed, enjoying the moment more than he should.

"Just do your job," the Medic responded, turning back to focus his Medi Gun on the Heavy to heal the injuries he acquired from his own counterparts.

The next wave consisted of scores of Soldiers from the left, and a horde of Demomen from the front. Rockets and grenades quickly flew anywhere and everywhere, ensuring that dozens of explosions would occur in the course of a second. The sentries at the corners of the area were able to at least half that number before they were destroyed, leaving only the two sentries at the top of the tower. The Demoman chose that moment to detonate the bombs at the exits, ensuring the abominations a death as explosive as their occupations. Three F2P Soldiers were at the edge of the explosion targeting their group, and were thrown onto the scaffolding together. But even as the first one tried to get up, a well-placed shot from Sniper's AWPer Hand penetrated the metal jacket of one of its pineapple grenades and took out the three in a small yet sufficiently deadly explosion of metal fragments.

The Mercenaries were quick to aim their weapons back at the exits, readily anticipating the next wave to come. But as the seconds ticked by, nothing came out. The Medic decided then that actions must be taken, and called out to the Scout. After gaining the Scout's attention, he motioned for the Bostonian to recon near the A point. Mulling over the fact that the Medic basically ordered him on a suicide mission, he decided to go for it since he has respawn. He disappeared into the access tunnel through which A could be reached, and came back seconds later screaming bloody murder.

"Freak!" the Scout warned, "Freak incoming!" The immediate area outside the exit was as far as the scout got before a kukri was shoved through his chest. Surprised at the sudden appearance of the large knife, the Scout could only let out a dying gurgle before it retracted and let the young man's body fall to the ground. Behind the corpse, the mercenaries could make out a Sniper. At least, it looked like the sniper. It's attire used neither RED nor BLU color pallets. The primary color was black, with the color red serving as a secondary color on its jacket. Where the sniper's insignia should be, a red biohazard symbol was in its place. In addition, this Sniper had a noticeable beard on it.

"At ease mates, hehahahah!" the freak Sniper yelled out, his behavior being like that of an old friend. Obviously, he was taunting the shocked mercenaries, doing his best to put them off.

"Attention," the Administrator interrupted, "mission ends in 60 seconds."

"Whoops," the Snipe said, acting like he made a simple and minor mistake, "sounds like I should hurry up!" That got everyone to act. The sentries atop the tower beeped in confirmation of a target, but were stopped from firing when the new enemy _threw arrows_ at high speeds towards the two machines and hit them in the rocket pods, detonating their payload prematurely and destroying the sentries. Next, the Spy appeared behind the enemy while the Pyro approached, the two trying to double team the Sniper. This "brutal" Sniper suddenly spun around and decapitated the Spy with a kukri in one swift move. Without missing a beat, he then thrusted the same weapon into the Pyro, thus incapacitating the masked individual. He then pulled out a Tribalman's Sniv and _jumped_ up onto C point. Working as quickly as he had before, he kicked the engineer off the platform and ensured his painful fall down below. Next, the Medic charged towards the Brutal Sniper along with the Demoman with his bottle. The Sniper just kicked the Medic towards the super capacitors and pulled out a cross of all things and stabbed it into the Demoman's good eye. As he stood there screaming, the Demoman did not notice the serrated kukri aimed at his skull.

The _Christian_ Brutal Sniper laughed as he pulled the knife out of the Scottsman's skull, ready to put it back into someone else's body. He got that someone in the form of an individual with a fist aimed at Christian Brutal Sniper's head. It connected, and almost threw the menace off of the platform. The freak rubbed his face and felt blood trickle down his nose. Growling, he tried swinging the knife at the Heavy. Unfortunately for the former, the punch damaged his performance, and the Heavy was more agile than he thought, thus cumulating into a bunch of missing attacks.

Roaring, he tried going for a downward stroke, but was blocked by the swing of a shovel. The Heavy saw that the Soldier had arrived at the top in the intervening time. "Stand on the point, Heavy," he said to his comrade-in-arms, "We can't let this scumbag have it."

"Piss off, wanker," the Christian Brutal Sniper spat. He then parried the shovel out of the way, leaving the Soldier wide open for an attack. Going for sadism, the Sniper aimed his swing at Soldier's left arm, and deprived the mercenary of his remaining good arm.

"God dammit, not again," the Soldier yelled, unable to cry in anger or pain from the adrenaline of battle. He was, however, able to yell in surprise when the Sniper shoved him off the platform. This action costed the Sniper, however, when the Soldier suddenly bit into his hand, eliciting a scream of surprise as well. He might have been able to recover from the trap considering his freakish nature, but all bets were off when the Heavy came and punched him hard in the back of the head. The Sniper came falling down to the ground, spouting as many curses as he could within the short couple of seconds he fell. The Soldier and the Sniper fell onto the packed dirt with a dull thud, their bodies going limp.

"Mission ends in ten seconds."

All of a sudden, F2P mercenaries flooded in form the A and B areas, Ghastly Gibuses teleporting in giant floods of enemies unlike anything that was seen before. Clones were squeezing into the access tunnels as much as possible to try and rush the final point in one great tsunami. The Christian Brutal Sniper himself struggled to move and attempt his attack again. The RED Heavy, meanwhile, retrieved a nearby med kit and was too busy mistering aid to the wounded doctor to pay attention.

"Five" the first F2Ps started coming in.

"Four" Electricity was arching within the converted laser.

"Three" RED Sniper died under a hail of shotgun pellets.

"Two" Hundreds of F2Ps now flooded the courtyard.

"One" Christian Brutal Sniper let out a scream of defiance as he faced his inevitable doom.

And with that, a great red pulse exploded out of the tip of the array and started expanding to encompass Gravel Pit. A couple F2P Scouts that were just coming into range with the Heavy and Medic were enveloped by the crimson wave, and were suddenly disintegrated into red particles. Soon, other F2Ps followed suit as the waved enveloped and vaporized them in turn. Outward and outward it expanded, coming closer to the giant floating hats by the second. When one came in contact with the pulse, it disintegrated wherever it touched. Soon, anything and everything that was associated with the Fractured 2nd Replacements were turning into red particulates which in turn dissipated into the air. Outward and outward, the wave still grew and started to expand to all of the Badlands. In one day, the F2Ps destroyed BLU. In three days, the instrument of their doom was built. In one hour, New Mexico was cleansed of the abominations.

The Heavy watched as the pulse destroyed his enemies, and was content. Looking back, he saw the Medic start to get up, looking none the worse for wear. It was then that Heavy decided that now was the time to congratulate him in a professional manner.

"DOCTOR!" the Heavy cheered, rushing towards the Medic and enveloping him in a hug like an immature child. "We win! Now we live and are happy and have crushed baby team!"

The Medic's only response was to continue making choking noises. The Heavy finally realized this and releases his strangled companion. Looking at the sheepish Heavy, the Medic gave companion a glare and then suddenly slapped him across the face.

"Dummkopf!" the Medic reprimanded, "Ziz is not ze time to act like a child! Now, ve must report back to Redmond und ze Administrator und avait for debriefing." The Heavy would have acknowledged this, but at the moment, his focus was suddenly on something behind the Medic. Frustrated at Heavy's lack of attention, the Medic turned around to take a look at was so "important".

What the Medic saw was apparently very important as he too had a look of surprise and awe. The super capacitors that were laid out on the platform were now floating in the air with no apparent instruments for suspending them in their current position. The Medic raised a hand to try and tough the devices, and one of them floated upward in response to the German's movements. Surprised once again, the Medic started making other movements, the floating machines copying those movements as well. As this pattern continued, a smile started creeping onto the Medic's face, and childish laugher was beginning to leak out of his mouth.

"Zis is amazing," the Medic breathed out, "the energy pulse must have imbued something into my into my body, thus giving me supernatural powers. It's like magic. Ha, I have magic. I AM FULL OF MAGIC!" And like that, the Medic lost all composure and started laughing like crazy.

"Heh…heh, heh," the Heavy started, joining the laughing bandwagon. But almost as soon as he started, he stopped, feeling very tiny in the current situation. However, he was able to soon notice a change in the doctor. His laughter was slowly but surely losing it the child-like glee it had before, and was being replayed with the sadistic laugher of a madman containing promises of nothing good. Eventually, the Medic stopped laughing, but he now had an evil grin on his face. He looked down to his hands, relishing the power that they now held. This look was something Heavy was distinctly familiar with, something that unsettled him greatly.

"Think of ze possibilities, my friend," the Medic addressed Heavy, "If I could replicate zis miracle, ve vill have a power unrivaled by any man. Ve could become a new breed of human beings, untouchable on the fields of battle. Ve could become ze leaders of a new world order, one which will never topple."

"But doctor," the Heavy said, "I do not want to rule people. I want to help family."

"Yes, yes, but think," the Medic said, emphasizing his words in an effort to sway his comrade, "With zis power, no Communist, nay, _no man_ , will be able to touch your family ever again. Zey vill become honored citizens of a _utopia_."

Now Heavy's mind was working overtime. On one hand, this offer could finally keep his family safe. If he were to gain this power, the Heavy would become an unstoppable force, a man who's pride could never be sullied. However, the Heavy knew that look in the Medic's eyes. It was the same look as the commissar's, a look of ambition without any remorse. And if his knowledge and experience of World War II taught him, Hitler and Stalin had those traits as well. Could he accept that offer, even if there were no strings attached?

The Heavy squeezed one of his hands into a fist of determination. _No_ , he thought. This will only end in disaster. The deaths of millions in the past were testament to that. Heavy looked directly into the Medic's crazed eyes and said, "No."

The Medic was honestly taken back by that word. "Vhat?" he asked.

"No, I do not want do this," the Heavy said, a tone of finality in his voice.

"But think about what you are thowing away," the Medic pleaded, "Do you know how many people will throw away their lives for zis opportunity?"

"Do you know what people do when they get power, or how they get it?" Heavy retorted.

"Exactly, you don't have to lose anything. With little effort, you can become a _god_!"

"But I do not want to be god!" The Medic's face became very stoic at that response, giving the Heavy no clue as to what he was thinking. Heavy was hoping beyond hope that the Medic could overcome his delusions of grandeur.

Finally, after many tense seconds, the Medic gave his response. "If you are not with me, zen you are against me." The Medic then thrusted his right palm out, and the Heavy was shoved off the platform by an invisible force. The Heavy crashed into the building right above the B exit, hurting the Heavy but unable to break his strong body. He slipped off of the wall, and would have landed hard onto the ground if the Medic did not telekinetically levitate Heavy in the air. The Heavy was then levitated upwards, a shout of indignance coming out of the Russian.

During this time, a state of shock fell over the Heavy, too stunned to register his current dilemma. How could the Medic throw their friendship away so quickly? How could he suddenly and maliciously hurt him? Before he could contemplate any further, his back was suddenly arched backwards, bending his spine to the absolute limit and sending pain throughout the Russian's body. The Heavy was then slammed down onto the ground, adding to the pain that started taking its toll on his body. At this point, the injuries were taking their toll on the Heavy. Exhausted, battered, and heart-broken, there was little he could do to his former comrade.

The treacherous Medic, however, was not content with this. Lifting a fist up into the air, he levitated the Heavy up into the air, the sound of Heavy's screams heard filling up the air. The Heavy thought that the Medic was going to slam him into a hard surface again. He would not get that mercy. Stopping the Heavy just above him, he sprayed his hands out, the Heavy copying the motion with his limbs. As he stayed suspended in the air, still recuperating from his previous experiences, he did not notice the Medic violently closing his fist.

*Crunch* The Heavy let out his loudest scream in his entire life. All the pain he ever felt in his lifetime paled in comparison to this new sensation. His arms and legs were pressing into his body with the force of industrial machines, some bending in ways no human body part should. His ribs bent inward, their points impaling the organs they originally protected. Muscles were torn asunder in punishment for resisting the Medic's wrath. Bones were breaking up into smaller parts, becoming instruments of torture through the tearing of flesh from within. All this was happening as the Medic grinned in ecstasy at the absolute misery of his friend.

" _Can you imagine fighting me?"_ The Heavy, his mind filled with agony, could not form enough coherent thoughts to come to a decision. Though his mind could already register the fact that his friend could apparently do so to him, and with such glee. It was the most horrific thing he could possibly imagine. Perhaps it was appropriate he was wearing blue instead of red today.

"Zis power is amazing! I pity you for denying zis power for yourself! But do not worry, I'll be sure to share it vith our ozer comrades. Too bad you will not live to see it." And with that, he squeezed his fist a little harder.

The last thing Heavy registered was his body imploding into a single, bloody point.

- **+G+-**

 **PLOT TWIST! I bet you didn't see that coming. Well…unless you saw the videos. Anyways, this ends ends the first arc of the story. Also, apologies for the long wait for this chapter. Rest assured, the next chapter will be pumped out in the next few days. Like I said before, constructive criticism is welcome.**


	6. Demortalized

**Location: Unknown**

 **Operation: Unknown**

 **Date: Unknown**

In the place lost to war, one can see a picture frame lying on the on a terminal, a photograph for all to see. On it are the figures of five mercenaries: the Sniper, the Demoman, the Medic, the Heavy, and the Soldier. Together, they formed a bond forged from the blood and sweat they shed in the hearts of battle.

" _If you are not with me, zen you are against me."_

Suddenly, a shockwave sends the frame off of the terminal and into the air, directly above the ground. Time moved slowly as it fell slowly towards the ground, threatening to destroy the picture.

 **-+G+-**

 **Location: Teufort, New Mexico**

 **Operation: Unknown**

 **Date: July 18** **th** **, 1971**

Demoman felt something was off today.

As he crossed the bridge towards BLU base, the Demoman contemplated what could possibly be wrong. Currently, he was at 2Fort, off to capture the enemy intelligence for something of great value within. And once he has it, he will finally be able to leave this wretched place and continue to pursue his destiny.

He did not know where the other mercenaries were and he honestly did not care. His mind only cared for two things: himself and his ambitions. And the briefcase was the key to that, for the Demoman knew exactly what was inside.

Austrailium.

At least, the locations for the caches that held them. He discovered this fact when he took a peek inside the RED briefcase some time ago, and he found an incomplete set of coordinates of the caches' locations. He concluded that the other set must be with BLU, and thus that is why he was down here.

He shuffled his crossed legs into a more comfortable position as he floated further into the base. If anyone saw him, they would describe his pose as a cross between the Indian lotus position and the Egyptian arm pose people ogle on hieroglyphs. In addition, his fingers were contorted into seemingly awkward positions and his mouth formed a gaping O, his lips parted away like a fish.

As he floated down the stairs and ever closer to the Intel room, the Demoman couldn't understand why those peons that were other human beings were content to propel themselves using their legs. It was such a waste of energy. Levitating to wherever you need to go was so much less of a hassle. Plus, you could even fly using this technique. It was evidence of the power he wielded, and the australium will ensure that those powers will only grow stronger.

But even as he floated into the Intel room, he still could not place what was wrong.

Ah, his left arm was 4 degrees off the optimal orientation.

There, all better.

At last, he arrived at the desk that held the key to untold power, the power to become a god.

But before he could move to pick up the briefcase, boisterous laughter was coming from his right, confusing the Demoman.

"You are little man," a Russian voice said. Turning towards the voice, what he saw was a person the Demoman did not expect to see again.

It was the RED Heavy, a smirk located on his face. If anyone else were to witness this, they would also note the awkward pose the Heavy was in. His arms were spread out like the wings of a bird, at though he expected to fly with them. His left leg was crouched extremely low while his other leg was aimed out like a high kick.

However, the Demoman could only see that smirk, that smirk that just screams "I am better than you!" Does this person not know what power he wielded? To challenge him was height of arrogance and pride.

This malice was only amplified when the Heavy started flailing his body around while making baby noises, taunting and demeaning the Demoman even more.

The nerve! A crippled mortal who could not possibly match his _spiritual_ and physical might, taunting him! This man must pay for his hubris!

The Demoman started focusing the energies within him, directing them towards the man in front of him with only one purpose, _kill_.

A laugh started to build up within the Demoman's throat, getting louder and louder. It was strange and alien, like someone took a recording of laughter and played it in reverse. It reverberated around the room, into the Heavy's body, and into the Heavy's _soul_.

Though the Demoman's face was unchanged, he felt joy as he noted the Heavy's smirk disappear and was replaced by convulsions manifesting across the mortal's body. These convulsions progressively became more and more violent until the Heavy started to spasm like he was having a severe seizure.

A scream escaped the Heavy's mouth when the convulsions reached their peak and the Heavy exploded into gory bits.

Satisfied with the results, the Demoman turned back to the briefcase. Focusing his powers once more, he commanded the briefcase to levitate and attach itself to his back. The Demoman turned back to the exit of the room, and hovered back to base.

During his travel back to base, the Demoman contemplated if killing the Heavy was really the best idea. According to what few memories he had, people with the same color as he were good guys. However, the Demoman quickly dismissed that thought, the only person that is his companion is himself. If anyone so much as looks at him funny, he will strike him down.

The RED Heavy was the first obstacle in his way, and he is unlikely the last. Luckily, he will never be a future obstacle, the Demoman thought. After all…

Respawn is gone.

 **-+G+-**

 **Location: Teufort, New Mexico**

 **Operation: Unknown**

 **Date: July 19** **th** **, 1971**

Meanwhile, in the BLU Spawn room, the BLU Sniper was roused from his sleep from the sound of an explosion.

Slowly, he got up from the bench where he rested, and made his way out towards the battlements, his head facing downwards.

 _Eh_

While he moved, slow laughter started coming out of his mouth, each syllable heavily punctuated by his voice.

 _Eh_

He knew something special will happen today.

 _Eh_

He knew that great tided of blood will be spilt.

 _Eh_

He knew that he will be the epicenter for it.

 _Eh_

And he couldn't wait for when that happens.

 **-+G+-**

 **BAM! The next antagonists make their appearance. Anyways, sorry if this chapter is short, but I promise that the next ones will be of greater length than this one.**


	7. Schniper

**Location: Teufort, New Mexico**

 **Operation: None**

 **Date: July 19** **th** **, 1971**

Lawrence Mundy was not a happy mercenary. And it was because he was an unhappy mercenary that he spent his hours out on the 2Fort battlements to lament the past two weeks. It was really the only thing he felt like doing these days, what with RED going to hell just like BLU did. What no one expected was just how that would happen.

Lawrence, the RED Sniper, remembered everything clearly unlike his RED brethren. It all started with the end of Operation Endgame. The Sniper respawned just in time to witness the Medic coming into the spawn room to greet all the other mercenaries. The Medic looked sullen, like he lost something very important that he would never recover.

When debriefing started, everyone learned just what was lost. The RED Heavy was dead. The German doctor said that a flaw in the superweapon caused the Russian to be affected by the blast, granting him a death which could not be revoked by respawn. The Engineer verified it minutes later when respawn failed to respond to the Texan's commands to spawn the Heavy. However, the Engineer declared that he would do his best to try and revive their fallen comrade. Until then, respawn had to be disabled for the Engineer to work on it.

As of today, it still remained off.

After the debriefing of Endgame, the mercenaries were put on standby until further notice. At some point, the RED team decided to hold a funeral for the Heavy. Everyone but the Medic attended.

The Sniper let out some spit at that thought. He should've known, should've seen the signs. Killed by the superweapon? What a load of bull. If that was the case, why didn't it affect the other mercenaries? Heck, why didn't it affect the BLU Heavy who was practically his brother? Obviously, something else killed him, and the Medic was withholding answers. Unfortunately, they were too late in seeking out answers.

Soon, other Mercenaries started disappearing. At first, it didn't seem so bad. There were acceptable excuses that were brought up like, "Oh, he's on a special assignment" or, "Oh, he's working on a special project." But then the mercenaries' numbers shrank to the point that they wouldn't be able to perform any future operations effectively. _That_ was when Sniper started becoming suspicious.

Those suspicions were only confirmed when the Medic came to visit him one day. He told Lawrence that he needed to have a kidney implant. Now if anyone actually appreciated the Sniper's Jarate skills, they would have known that the Sniper had kidneys three times the size of anyone else's thanks to Saxton Hale Jarate Pills. They won't be needing replacement any time soon. Which only meant that the Medic had some nefarious plans in mind for him. So that night, the Sniper fled the base in his van for 2Fort, therefore avoiding whatever selfish plans the Medic had in mind.

The Sniper snorted. He should have known better. They were all mercenaries. They weren't here for Queen nor County, nor protecting their family nor their friends. They were here for the money, no more and no less. They were all selfish scumbags. All that friendship the others were on about were meaningless. The relationship between Medic and Heavy was meaningless. The friendship between Jane and Tavish was meaningless. And the bond he formed with the RED Demoman? Screw him! He should've killed him while he let his guard down, not trade tidbits about their lives!

And what he found one he got to 2Fort proved he was right about the Medic! It was here that he found The RED Demoman—one of the first to disappear—and from his current state, Mundy could tell exactly what kind of selfish person the Medic was. For the many days that he has been here, the Sniper has gone to great lengths to avoid the wrath of this newly created freak. Heck, being out here was a big risk as it was. Any second, he might just end up a bloody pulp on a wall just like the clones that were here.

Oh yeah, the clones. The Medic was right for the wrong reasons when he said the superweapon was flawed. It only killed a little over 99% of the F2Ps in the Badlands. There were still a few left around the RED and BLU facilities, but were apparently not enough to threaten a superpowered mercenary. The RED Sniper happened to have come to 2Fort just in time to witness an F2P Soldier spontaneously combust under the gaze of the RED Demoman. After that, the Sniper was keen not to meet that gaze.

Unfortunately for the Sniper, he was so distracted that he did not see that he was under the gaze of another player.

 _Eh_

He did not see that it had its crosshairs aimed at the Sniper's head.

 _Eh_

He did not hear the loud crack of a gun, nor the scream of surprise of its wielder from the recoil.

 _Eh_

He did not see a 40mm projectile fly directly towards him.

 _Eh_

He did not feel his face suddenly cave in from the force of said projectile.

 _Eh_

 **-+G+-**

The BLU Sniper was a happy mercenary. In fact, he was so happy that he decided to flail his arms around like an immature child in celebration. Now why would he choose a twitch of all things, some might asked? Well, it was mostly due to his…condition. That condition could be best described as having the movement and posture of a marionette operated by the world's worst puppeteer. Whenever he walked, it was with the grace of a decayed zombie. His body is sometimes contorted in ways the human body never should, and has never indicated any discomfort from it. In fact, a few seconds ago, his right arm was wrapped around his neck…while bending in more areas than the human arm has joints. And just after that, he fired his sniper rifle while having his upper body blown back like he shot a cannon instead.

And those were the most visible problems. If you were able to get close to the BLU Sniper, you would also notice that his eyes were unfocused and wall-eyed. The most he has ever said an actual work in the last week one word. It was as if his mind regressed to that of an animal, taking away some of the more basic functions of the mind while it was at it.

The Sniper was not really worried about this, nor was his defective state of mind capable of even understanding this dilemma. Very little of the BLU Sniper remained in this pitiful creature, only snippets of the mercenary's skills and memories. Two things in particular stood out in his memories: killing is good and killing red people is _very_ good. Today, some sort of instinct in his brain told him he would get to enjoy those things. And as luck would have it, it was right! On the battlements across the site there was a bloke as red and exposed as a bullseye. A bit unimpressive prey, but oh-well. At least the BLU Sniper got to enjoy seeing his face cave in.

As he finished his celebration, another memory came to mind. Usually, these red people are part of a group. So that means that if one guy was here, then there must be other guys to kill! Giddy with excitement, the BLU Sniper unknowingly channeled a power within and instinctively teleported to the battlements where the RED Sniper's corpse still stood upright. Quickly, he shambled towards the small L-shaped hallway that will hopefully lead to new prey to kill.

"Ytreporp em no ssapsert uoy erad woh, yo!" a voice yelled out to him, pausing him just as he got to the bend.

Turning his head, the BLU Sniper could clearly see another creature, clad in red just like his previous game. This one was different. Some parts of it, such as its face and hands, were black. Its legs were not touching the ground, but rather levitating a few feet off of the ground. In addition, the creature seemed to be emitting an aura of power that _really_ put off the Sniper. The strangeness of this creature was such that it actually gave pause to the Sniper. A pause the creature would not give for free

"Eid lliw ouy, rehtaeh, emirc ruoy rof!" And with that declaration, the Demoman unleased an otherworldly laughter, causing the aura he emitted to focus on the Sniper. Now, the Sniper was starting to panic, his instincts being fired off by forces imperceptible to the five senses. Terror filled his heart and helped to root the predator turned prey into place. The BLU Sniper was now as helpless as cattle in a slaughter house.

But the crux of his laughter, the new creature ceased all activity, finally giving the Sniper much needed relief. The Sniper was now uncertain what to do. Should he gloat at his enemy and flaunt his inability to kill him? Or should he go for the kill? Both were equally appetizing choices. Unfortunately, he would not get that choice.

In the blink of an eye, the Sniper snapped his neck towards the wall behind where he was facing. He didn't want to do so, as he could not see anything important about this small, plain wall. He felt like a force pushed him to face that direction. In fact, he felt a force pushing a lot of stuff on his body towards that direction. It was then that the Sniper came to a sudden realization of what is happening. _Attack!_

But it was too late. The force had suddenly multiplied in magnitude and shoved the BLU Sniper against the wall in an instant. The Sniper tried to struggle, but his muscles could not even struggle to put up resistance. He couldn't even let out a noise to express his anger and pain at this assault.

The force that pushed the Sniper into the wall continued to get stronger, and the Sniper's body started to actually be imbedded into the wall. The Sniper's body continued to activate his pain receptors, warning him about the abuse his body was taking. Eventually, it was too much, and the sniper's flesh suddenly pealed open, letting out gushes of blood to paint the area a darker shade of red. And thus, the hunter perished.

The _Spiritual_ Demoman was unfazed by any of this, just glad that it was over. Truth be told, he considered the transpiring events a mere distraction, an annoyance that was delaying his plans. The silver lining in all of this is that this BLU annoyance had killed his RED counterpart.

Oh sure, he did an impressive job hiding himself. But the Spiritual Demoman actually sensed him almost as soon as he arrived here. The only reason the Demoman did not kill him was because he had more important things to do. Besides, the RED Sniper kept out of his way for the duration of his stay. Even if he was not an annoyance, his death ensured that he shall remain that way. Now only if the BLU Sniper killed those other two…

The Demoman dismissed that thought after reminding himself that he has more important things to do. He has already deciphered and memorized the locations of the Australium caches RED and BLU kept hidden. Now was the time for him to move out and collect the Australium. However, that would leave the base undefended, and he still needed 2Fort to carry out his future plans.

Luckily, the Spiritual Demoman knew just the individuals for the job. So, he hovered up and up, ascending into the sky in order to fly off to where he needed to go.

However, the Spiritual Demoman made one crucial mistake as he flew off to his destination. As he flew over the central area of 2Fort, he missed seeing the upright corpse of the RED Sniper. If he were closer, he would have seen the 40mm projectile lodged into his skull.

He would also have noticed the projectile emitting pulsating blue light.

 **-+G+-**

 **Meanwhile…**

Inside the RED spawn room, one could hear the demonic laughter of the Spiritual Demoman followed by the splattering of blood of some enemy. Afterwards, there was only silence.

Many hours later, the silence still persisted. The people who normally occupied this room were either dead or lost themselves in some other place. Perhaps those hours would transform into days or even years before the silence is broken. They didn't.

Like the coming of a dream, two figures suddenly appeared inside the rooms as though they were always there.


End file.
